Good Cousin, Bad Cousin
by UngratefulWolf
Summary: (Reboot-verse, originally for a contest). The Tennysons pick up Gwen's cousin Sunny during summer. It's a fight for self-control that ensues as the black-haired girl proves to be a handful, even for 10 years old kids.


Slapback made an echoey helpless sound as his copies fell back onto each other, merging back into one as Ben timed out. The 10 years old boy got up, an angry glare directed at the clown car.

"You won't get away with it this time, Zombozo!"

"I'd like to see you try and catch me, Tennyson!" laughed the clown, throwing a basket of purple juggling clubs at Ben, causing a huge smoke to cover the scene.

"Hey! Those aren't supposed to be ninja smoke bombs!" said Ben, coughing as he tried to see through the purple fog.

His eyes were watering, it was hard to see where he went while this thing was all over the place. Maybe Stinkfly could outstink this fog, if only he wasn't timed out. Looks like he would either sit down and wait until it faded out, or walk until he found his way back.

Who was he kidding? Ben Tennyson had nothing to do with patience.

Ben extended his arms out, attempting to grab on to anything he could find. Whether it'd be a street lamp, a mailbox or even a dog, he'd eventually find something. He thought he saw a traffic cone and tried to hold on to it, not expecting to be pushed down.

Yelping as he fell back down, he shook his arms all the way around him in karate-like moves, unable to look threatening as he was looking the wrong way.

"Stay back or I'll Humungousaur you to pieces!" he warned, earning a sigh from both the redhead and their grandfather.

"Ben! You got dust all over your face." said the blurry figure handing him a tissue, her voice identifying her as his cousin.

"Gwen? Zombozo got away again! We gotta find him before he causes any more trouble!"

"Glad to see you're taking your hero time more seriously, but we actually gotta roll." said Gwen. "Grandpa has to pick someone up from summer camp."

"What?! What about the bad guy?!"

"Give yourself a break, Ben." said his grandfather. "You already saved the day for now, we won't see Zombozo for a while. The cops are probably already on his tail, we deserve some rest."

The young hero pouted, crossing his arms before his cousin helped him get back up.

"Fine, where should we be going to now?"

* * *

"Are you going to tell us who this 'surprise cousin' is?" asked Ben.

"Is it another uncle or aunt from last family reunion who's still mad at us for the last burping contest we made?" asked Gwen.

"Hey! That one was my best one yet!"

"Yup, and we all will remember it for ages to come." snorted the redhead, remembering how the entire roof _collapsed_ on them thanks to Ben's burp.

"We're here!" said Max, parking. "Now, all I can say is that your mom asked me to pick them up, Gwen. Can you guess who it is?"

He mimicked marching band sounds as he opened the Rustbucket's door.

"Hmm, hold on…" hesitated Ben. "Is it…?!"

"No way!" said Gwen, her pupils and her cousin's turning star-shaped. "Don't tell me it's K-"

"Tada!" announced Max, waving to the uninterested black haired girl walking in.

"...Gwen's emo clone I don't know about?"

"...Sunny?!" exclaimed Gwen, excitement switching to betrayal. "Grandpaaaaaaaaaa, whyyyyyyyyyyy?!"

"What? You and cousin Sunny played together a lot before." said Max, raising a brow.

"Uh, yeah? When we were _three years old_? I spent more time teaching Ben not to throw his toys out the window than playing with Sunny at that age!"

"Oh come on, you two can catch up on a lot of things. The trip will only last a few minutes, make yourself comfortable, Sunny."

The young girl in question looked like Gwen, with black hair and her hair down along with bored blue eyes. She wore a plain purple shirt with black shorts and purple ballerina shoes. She didn't even get her eyes off her phone as she got in, not acknowledging her relatives.

Gwen grumbled as she eyed the other girl, knowing fully well this wasn't her usual Ben brand of troublemaker. Sadly, her cousin didn't know what he was getting himself into as he tried to introduce himself.

"Hi! I'm your other cousin, Ben."

"Boring."

Ben's eye twitched. This was new in levels of being condescending towards him, he had never had someone hurt his ego as much as call him boring the first time they met him. Gwen could tell he was ready to crack.

Sighing, he tried to strike a conversation with her.

"You know, I got this super cool alien watch from outer space called the Omnitrix. I can turn into 10 different aliens at a time, wanna see?"

"Hmm, can you turn into something with a respectable wardrobe? I mean, I doubt you could manage to make anything look decent with that kind of shirt, but if you got something else than that trashy shirt and that dumb haircut, maybe there's still hope."

Gwen had to physically restrain her shapeshifting cousin from going Rath on the other girl.

* * *

"She always used to steal my toys whenever we had aunts and uncles visiting." explained Gwen. "She just loves getting a rise out of others, like that extra edge she gets when she almost got you to tear her a new one, that's her definition of fun."

"Your emo twin is just as annoying as Kevin is!" complained Ben, crossing his arms.

"Now you know why I spend my summers with you, among other things. Even with the Omnitrix around, you're still a lot easier to manage."

"Thanks!"

She laughed at her cousin taking what she was saying as a compliment. Ben and Sunny had a similar sense of humor, though she definitely ended up befriending Ben more than her other cousin. She was still thankful only one of them went on road trips with her and Max, otherwise, summer school suddenly looked a whole lot more fun.

The Rustbucket stopped in the middle of the roads, letting the green-eyed pair sigh in relief, thinking they had arrived at their destination.

"Uh, kids? We might get stuck in traffic, there's a slight, um, clown parade attacking everyone on the sidewalk."

"On it!" said Ben, running out of the vehicle followed by Gwen.

As Max got out of the seat, he noticed Sunny had left hers as well. Maybe she too wanted to take part in some hero adventuring fun?

* * *

He inhaled, this shouldn't be hard.

Come on, he rehearsed during his last slam performance, this would be even easier now that Gwen knew how he felt. Standing proud, he crossed the road where he saw the old rusty car, seeing the girl's silhouette from afar.

He blushed, turning around and ready to run away with his tail between his legs. Then he turned back. No! He wasn't going to flee or humiliate himself this time! He'd go there, maybe punch Loser-son's face away if he needed to, then ask Gwen to be friends.

As simple as that, now he'd be less awkward if he had to team up with Lame-son again. Or if he had to be at the same place as the Tennysons were. Or if they invited him to hang out like goodie-two shoes do. Or whatever.

He ran straightforwardly and stopping with his eyes closed, he started blabbering.

"Hey, uh, Gwen. The weather looks nice today. Uhh, I heard you liked science stuff so- I mean, I'm not some dumb nerd like Charmcaster, not that there's anything wrong with being a nerd! I mean, you're kind of smart and pretty. ARHEM, PRETTY NERDY SOMETIMES. Er, what I mean is-"

"Who are you?"

Gulping, Kevin opened his eyes and shook his head. Since when has Gwen decided to go emo? And… she looked kinda cute with the darker aesthetic, they matched now. Did she get lenses too?

"Er, I, uh…"

"Uh, what? Cat got your tongue, greasy hair guy? Hm, you don't look so bad… except, that thing. Is it a new trend to wear all those tacky watches? Huh, yours even looks like a ripoff of my stupid cousin's anyway, whatever."

She returned to her phone, leaving Kevin speechless.

This was _so_ NOT PART OF THE PLAN! When did Gwen get this judgmental?! Why isn't Tennyson around to explain why she turned into Charmcaster's superficial best friend all of a sudden?

How could he talk to her while she was like this? What had changed? Maybe this was a bad idea, maybe he should've gone another day to-

"Kevin? What are you doing here?"

Kevin looked in Ben's direction, expecting an explanation. But he didn't expect the dweeb to be there with… Gwen?

"What?! What the, how can there be two Gwens? Is this some kind of trick or something?"

"Presenting to you, cousin Sunny." said Gwen. "I'm still surprised she never got herself a wig or something to impersonate me. Hope she didn't make you suffer too much." snorted the redhead.

"Tch, 'course there's be more of you and your family, loser-son. Dweebs do come in packs of many."

"You're lucky there aren't two mes, Kevin, because I'd kick your butt twice as hard if I could." threatened Ben, before looking at the Omnitrix. "Hey…"

"Slapback didn't work the last time, and Zombozo is the one we have to take care of." interrupted Gwen. "Kevin, if you want to help, we could use yours anytime now."

"Why should I?"

"Suit yourself." said Gwen, about to leave.

"Hm, your boyfriend really must be desperate if that's how he talks to girls, good thing me and my Antonio never get that." That got Gwen protesting, and Kevin who blushed even more than her as well.

"He's not my boyfriend! / I'm not her boyfriend!" they both said in unison, much to Ben's amusement.

"Really? 'cause I heard-"

It was yet another struggle for Gwen and Ben this time, as they had to restrain Bashmouth from attacking a powerless human being while Sunny enumerated the things Kevin may or may not have said.

* * *

"We're here! Hope you enjoyed the trip!"

Ben and Gwen promised each other they'd be nicer and more patient with each other's antics as soon as the black-haired girl finally stepped out. They still had to figure out why Kevin came along, but they were glad there was a third person willing _not_ to talk to Sunny among them.

"Whatever, last family gathering was still more fun than… whatever _this_ was."

"Thanks!" said Ben, slipping back into glaring once Gwen and Kevin directed their glares at him. "I mean, oh get over it!"

Sunny snorted as she exited the vehicle and went home, letting the 10 and 11 years old children relax.

"Say, what were you there for again, Kevin?"

"I came here to talk. So, Gwen, remember that whole thing with my notebook, Charmcaster stealing my poems, your cousin calling me a doofus and all that?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Well, I thought, maybe you and I-"

"Why yes, Kevin, of course, I'd love to be your _girlfriend_!"

Gwen turned beet red and eyed the window, which Sunny apparently climbed towards even though she wasn't supposed to stay any longer. As if it became their newest running gag, Ben and Kevin physically restrained Gwen from jumping through the window while the other girl was leaving, making kissy sounds as Gwen swore people would be able to tell them apart once she was done with her.

"Eh, you know what? Forget it." said Kevin. "I'll come by another day and check if your cousin is up for a chat, dweeb-yson."

"Works for me, Kev'." said Ben.

"Hope there aren't actually more of you, I can't handle two Gwens like this, I'm gonna puke if there's two loser-sons with even more lame aliens around."

"I'd say you'd count as one, but you wish. Would be creepy if there was another version of me causing trouble like Sunny does with Gwen, good thing there aren't more Omnitrixes around. Omnitrixies. Omnitrixers. Ugh, whatever you say it."

The broody pre-teen boy left the Rustbucket while Max was getting things ready for another departure, letting Gwen cool down once calm was back into the home-vehicle.

"Just got another phone call. We'll need to pick up K-"

"NO!" said both kids in unison.

"What? Wasn't it fun hanging out with Sunny today?"

"It was…" lied Gwen.

"...but we honestly would love it if it was just the three of us for now?" admitted Ben, combining his puppy dog eyes with Gwen's, making Max roll his eyes before laughing.

"Alright, alright, you two. Let's get back on our schedule, if you insist so much."

He was interrupted by both kids hugging him tightly, making him wonder if he shouldn't get cousin Sunny more often, perhaps they'd agree on doing the same things more often.

"Just gotta make a quick phone call." said Max while the children went to watch TV. He dialed the number and pressed the 'Call button', contacting his grandson. "Hey, Ken? Sorry, we're not gonna make it. Ben and Gwen are too exhausted after spending the afternoon with Sunny."

"_Aw, man! Really? I thought they'd love it if I came over._" said the redhead on the phone.

"Maybe next summer. For now, I think they like each other's company more. I'll tell your sister you said 'hi' for you."

"_That's too bad. But, I get it, I'll wait for Mom and Dad to pick me up instead. I'll tell grandma you said hello, too. Night, Grandpa!_"

"Night!"

With that, the Tennyson trio left the street and drove forward to its next destination, unaware of the small robot that's been staring at the vehicle ever since they had arrived.

Ben Tennyson was a unique boy, yes. There were no other boys like him, not even Kevin would compare once Ben would join their side. Forever Knight knew some effort would be needed to cause tension among the boy's little family team, he'd be more trusting after some maintenance on his behalf, play on his trust a bit.

However, he was interrupted in his planning when the footage caught a flash momentarily disturbing the image.

"Ugh, great, now even freaky lab science projects are a thing now? I don't know why my parents thought seeing cousin Gwen again would do me good, all she's got is a bunch of weirdos hanging around her."

With that, Sunny thoughtlessly crushed the metallic drone along with its camera, interrupting the footage. Forever Knight noted to himself he should make his robots more discreet, would reduce the number of reckless kids destroying it while thinking money grows on trees by far.


End file.
